The elf with the fauxhawk glanced over with a bored expression and lifted his hand, pressing his middle and pointer fingers together while curling in the other three. He lowered it slowly and went back to mixing drinks.
I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh.
“What does that mean?” Dec asked Imperia.
She shrugged. “Don’t look at me. Ask the elf.”
They stared across the counter at me expectantly.
“Oh, uh.” I stared at the candied rim of the drink Imperia had made me.
“That bad?” Dec pressed.
“Well—”
“Come on, Sunshine. Are you too sweet to curse?”
Any sweetness I’d possessed had been chipped away in Faerie. My manners were still intact, but I wasn’t the blindly obedient or well-behaved female I’d once been. I looked Dec square in the eyes and set my jaw with determination.
“It means ‘fuck you and your mother.’”
Imperia pitched forward and erupted into laughter. Dec just shook his head.
“Naughty elf.”
“Oh, indeed,” Imperia practically purred, touching the tip of her tongue to her upper lip as she looked over at the elf bartender. “I might have to pay him a visit during my break.”
Dec huffed and rolled his eyes upward.
“The only thing you’ll get from Elohir is frostbite.”
“Ha-ha,” Imperia said, unimpressed. She looked at me and said, “Frostbite is Elohir’s signature drink.”
Dec shivered violently for full effect.
I smiled politely, but it was time to stake out a new location.
“Thank you for the tasty cocktails,” I said, taking them both with me.
“Stay out of the shadows, Sunshine,” Dec called as I made my way to the couches.
I walked in front of two pixies in short, sheer dresses. They lifted on their tiptoes as I passed, scowling as though I’d blocked their view, which from the sounds of it, I had. Once I’d cleared the space between them and the dance floor, they resumed their conversation.
“Look at how sexy Luca Caspan looks in his black leather jacket. I’d give my left wing for a piece of that.”
The pixie beside her sighed deeply and said, “Too bad he only seems to have eyes for that blonde chick in the black crown. Who does she think she is? Royalty of some kind?”
“At The Monster Ball, you never know,” the pixie’s friend noted.
That was certainly the truth. Technically I was a princess, but the title had never sounded right aloud or in my head. I was Aerith the elf, plain and simple, and I didn’t want it any other way.
After reaching the couches, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure Imperia and Dec weren’t looking my way before setting both drinks on an end table and moving away.
A seductive chuckle rumbled behind. “You know you’re supposed to drink those, right?”
When I turned, a pair of bright blue eyes in a tan face looked me over with a smugness that matched the smirk on his lips. The male exuded confidence, which he had every right to considering his hard, muscular body that no shirt or dress pants could mask entirely. The males back home tended to be lean and agile, nowhere near as burly as this firmly toned male. It was difficult not to openly stare.
“I tasted them,” I said defensively.
“What’s the matter? Not strong enough?” He prowled within inches of me while barely moving a muscle and flashed me a predatory smile that sent a shiver straight down to my golden slippers.
“Pacing myself,” I answered, studying his features, trying to guess what he was.
“Where’s the fun in that?” he drawled, eyeing my mask.
I shrugged. “The night’s still young.”
The male laughed. “That a girl. No one should leave this shindig without engaging in some sort of debauchery.” He glanced suggestively at the fabrics concealing the round beds along the shadowed edges of the ballroom.
Sure, Father would simply love that. If I were the willful type, I’d invite this gorgeous male to drag me off to one of those beds just to spite my father. Cirrus had shown me that sex could be pleasant. I’d been with a Fae, why not a—?
“Do you mind me asking what type of supernatural you are?” I asked, changing the subject.
The male’s eyes expanded in momentary shock. Oh, pitberries, had I just offended him?
“You don’t know who I am?” he choked out.
“Uh. Well, this is my first time at the ball.”
His mouth fell open a little and he stared at me harder, as though it shouldn’t make any difference whether I’d been to the ball only once or a hundred times.
“My name is Jax, and I’m only the alpha of one of the largest packs in the United States.” He folded his arms and jutted his chin.
“Oh,” I said quickly. “I’ve never visited the human world.”
“Ah,” Jax said, his shoulders relaxing again.
“You’re an alpha shifter?” I asked.
“Jaguar,” he answered.
“Really?” I clasped my hands together in excitement, taking a closer look at the jaguar shifter in front of me. Wait until Mel found out. “My sister will be so excited when I tell her.”
“Oh yeah?” Jax said, leaning in. “She as pretty as you?”
I narrowed my eyes from behind my mask. “Very pretty—and much younger. Have I mentioned I’m an excellent shot with my bow and arrow? The creatures back home know to run in the opposite direction when I enter the forest.”
Jax’s broad shoulders shook with laughter. He lowered his arms and scrubbed his jaw.
“You’re protective. I respect that. Besides, I’m not into girls. I like my women of a certain age and experience. And I’m not the only one.” Jax jutted his chin and stared pointedly at another tall, muscular, blue-eyed male who had slipped away from one of the cloaked beds moments before. This male had slightly messy dark blond hair and light scruff on his jawline. He seemed to have misplaced his tuxedo jacket, and his dress shirt gaped open at the top. The rest of his starched white shirt strained against bulging muscles that looked as though they could pop the rest of the buttons free. I wondered if he was a shifter of some kind, as well. Some creatures were easier to guess than others.
A female in a floor-length black dress and long midnight hair with dark blue highlights slipped through the cloaked fabric the exquisite male recently vacated. Her full pink lips were swollen.
Jax grinned knowingly. “Her cherry scent is all over him.”
Jax’s gaze moved to the dance floor. His smile thinned as he scanned the moving bodies and settled on a female with white-blonde hair piled high on her head wearing a red dress that revealed cleavage. She danced with a male dressed up in a suit.
“Hey, listen, it was nice chatting with you,” he said, eyes still on the female. Without another word, he stalked off in her direction.
I hadn’t even had to use a fake name with Jax. Clearly I wasn’t deemed a creature of importance—not like Mr. Alpha of America. Males—typical. Didn’t matter what breed they were. I rolled my eyes and headed back to the bar, this time making my way to the other side where the “pointy-eared” bartenders, as Dec had called them, were mixing drinks. A tall, broad-shouldered elf sat at the bar in a tuxedo. His dark brown hair was thick and neatly trimmed at the nape of his neck. He looked classically handsome and proud from the way he sat straight.